IT investments and product development effectiveness: Iranian SBs

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to examine if, and how, investments in IT at different levels can create new product development (NPD) capabilities in terms of IT leveraging competence in NPD and NPD effectiveness. The paper also investigates how Iranian small businesses (SBs) can achieve desired marketing performance through developing these capabilities. Design/methodology/approach: The paper is consistent with the perspective on IT‐enabled organizational capabilities. A questionnaire‐based survey was conducted to collect data from 218 businesses or NPD managers of SBs in Iran. Findings: IT leveraging competence in NPD and NPD effectiveness are valuable key capabilities that transform the value of IT resources to a firm's performance for Iranian SBs. Investments in both technical and human IT resources have positive effects on the development of NPD capabilities, and thus performance in the surveyed SBs. Research limitations/implications: Among other limitations, relying on a small sample size and cross‐sectional data of this research, and lack of generalizability of findings tend to have certain limitations. Practical implications: The results suggest that the investments in both technical and human IT resources increase firms' ability to develop effectiveness in NPD. However, IT investments strategy should be aligned with effective use of IT functionalities, as the effect of IT leveraging competence in development of NPD effectiveness is more pronounced. Second, IT leveraging competence in NPD and NPD effectiveness are important intermediate organizational capabilities through which the benefits of both technical and human IT resources are converted into performance effects at the firm level for Iranian SBs. Originality/value: This case study explores how Iranian SBs can develop NPD capabilities, and subsequently, marketing performance, a topic that has received little attention to date

The business value of information system-enabled e-collaboration capabilities

This study aims to understand how firms in developing countries can effectively use their Information System (IS) resources to develop valuable e-collaboration capabilities that in turn improve business performance. A questionnaire-based survey was conducted to collect data from 408 Iranian and Malaysian manufacturing firms. Findings revealed that Supply Chain-Wide Process Integration (SCPI) and Collaborative Knowledge Management (CKM) are key IS-enabled capabilities that enhance performance gain of manufacturing firms. The work found that these capabilities serve as catalysts in transforming the value of IS resources controlled by firms into business performance improvement. The results suggest that SCPI, as a determinant of a highly integrated and dynamic supply chain, is an important intermediate organizational capability through which value of IS resources can be materialized. Likewise, the findings imply that CKM across a given supply network, as a valuable intermediate organizational capability, converts the benefits of both technical and human IS resources into performance gain at the corporate level

The role of owner/manager in adoption of electronic commerce in small businesses: the case of developing countries

Purpose: Based on theories from the innovation diffusion literature, the purpose of this paper is to develop an integrated model of electronic commerce (EC) adoption in small businesses (SBs) of developing countries. The research model specifies variables at managerial level as the primary determinants to EC adoption in SBs. Design/methodology/approach: A questionnaire-based field survey was conducted to collect data from 268 owner/managers of SBs in Iran. The data were analysed using factorial analysis. Subsequently, six hypotheses were derived and tested by hierarchical multiple regression and logistic regression analysis. Findings: Perceived benefits, perceived compatibility, perceived risks, perceived costs, and innovativeness were found to be the significant determinants of decision to adopt EC. Likewise, discussion on discriminators between adopters and non-adopters of different EC applications has been provided. Research limitations/implications: Cross-sectional data of this research tends to have certain limitations when it comes to explaining the direction of causality of the relationships between the variables. The study focuses only on the manufacturing SBs of Iran. Practical implications: The research findings have important implications for practising managers, information systems experts, and policy-makers. Governments should follow specific policies to facilitate institutionalisation of EC in SBs. Similarly, EC vendors and technology providers should collaborate with SBs to enhance the compatibility of different EC applications with specific characteristics of these businesses. Originality/value: To the best of the authors' knowledge, this paper is perhaps one of the first that examines the adoption of EC by SBs in a developing country context, using a research model which tests the effects of owner/managers' attributes on adoption of simple and advanced EC applications

Information technology adoption in small and medium-sized enterprises; an appraisal of two decades literature

Small to medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) account for major source of employment, technological advancements, and competitive advantages for both developed and developing countries. Owing to the intensified competitive pressure and necessity for entering to global market undergone by SMEs, these businesses are incrementally employing Information Technology (IT) to take advantage of its substantial benefits. Most of prior researches have more focused on IT adoption in large organizations. However, and with regard to the limited resources controlled by SMEs, the process of IT adoption in this business sector is considerably different. The purpose of this paper is to analyze and contrast the internal and external issues affecting the process of IT adoption in SMEs to provide clearer understanding of this process by reviewing IT adoption literature, which includes more than 20 years of empirical research and case studies from a variety of databases with high concentration on certain SME-related issues. Proposed integrated framework demonstrates the process of IT adoption in SMEs through reviewing exiting perspectives in the literature. This study will assist different parties involved with adoption process including managers, vendors, consultants, and governments to achieve a practical synopsis of the IT adoption process in SMEs, which is believed to assist them with successful adoption

Digitalization in food supply chains: A bibliometric review and key-route main path analysis

Technological advances such as blockchain, artificial intelligence, big data, social media, and geographic information systems represent a building block of the digital transformation that supports the resilience of the food supply chain (FSC) and increases its efficiency. This paper reviews the literature surrounding digitalization in FSCs. A bibliometric and key-route main path analysis was carried out to objectively and analytically uncover the knowledge development in digitalization within the context of sustainable FSCs. The research began with the selection of 2140 articles published over nearly five decades. Then, the articles were examined according to several bibliometric metrics such as year of publication, countries, institutions, sources, authors, and keywords frequency. A keyword co-occurrence network was generated to cluster the relevant literature. Findings of the review and bibliometric analysis indicate that research at the intersection of technology and the FSC has gained substantial interest from scholars. On the basis of keyword co-occurrence network, the literature is focused on the role of information communication technology for agriculture and food security, food waste and circular economy, and the merge of the Internet of Things and blockchain in the FSC. The analysis of the key-route main path uncovers three critical periods marking the development of technology-enabled FSCs. The study offers scholars a better understanding of digitalization within the agri-food industry and the current knowledge gaps for future research. Practitioners may find the review useful to remain ahead of the latest discussions of technologyenabled FSCs. To the authors’ best knowledge, the current study is one of the few endeavors to explore technology-enabled FSCs using a comprehensive sample of journal articles published during the past five decades

Customer behaviour towards halal food: A systematic review and agenda for future research

Purpose: The halal food market is a large and fast-growing market. To maintain and boost the growth of the halal food industry, scholars have attempted to understand the behaviour of Muslims and non-Muslims towards halal food. To advance understating of previous studies on behaviour towards halal food and shedding light on future studies, this study aims to systematically review the literature. Design/methodology/approach: A sample of 985 peer-reviewed papers was extracted from Scopus and Web of Science databases. A total of 96 articles related to customers\u27 behaviour towards halal food by reviewing the titles, abstracts and contents of the extracted articles were identified and reviewed. Findings: This study illustrates: (i) various research designs and methodology used in halal food context, (ii) theories that researchers used to explain customer behaviour towards halal food, (iii) most tested behaviours and (iv) determinants of customer behaviour towards halal food. Originality/value: The findings provide deep insights into the current state of halal food literature. This paper highlights many gaps in the literature and suggests directions for future studies to advance the understanding of customer behaviour towards halal food. This study will help researchers to identify the new dimensions of research and contribute to the literature

Actions and approaches for enabling Industry 5.0-driven sustainable industrial transformation: A strategy roadmap

Although Industry 4.0 was believed to promote sustainable development, it has ignored or misunderstood many prevailing sustainability concerns, which led to the emergence of the Industry 5.0 agenda. While the desirable sustainability values of Industry 5.0 are widely acknowledged, the knowledge of how this agenda can deliver sustainable transformation is lacking. The present study addresses this knowledge gap, explaining how Industry 5.0 transformation should be managed to facilitate sustainable development. Therefore, this study strives to model the underlying mechanism for enabling such transformation. The study conducted a content-centric review of the literature and identified 11 actions and approaches that serve as enablers of Industry 5.0 transformation. The study further conducted the interpretive structural modeling and structured the enablers as an interpretive model explaining steps needed for enabling Industry 5.0. Finally, the study developed the strategy roadmap for enabling Industry 5.0 transformation and sustainable development. Results emphasized stakeholder salience, highlighting the enabling role of stakeholder integration and collaboration in Industry 5.0 transformation. Proactive governmental support is the most driving enabler of Industry 5.0, whereas eco-innovation and sustainable value network reformation are among the most complex and hard-to-develop enablers. Results offer several implications for policymakers and practitioners, explaining the functionality of each approach and strategy necessary for Industry 5.0 transformation. The roadmap determines the sequential relationships among these approaches and strategies and identifies their optimal development sequence for enabling Industry 5.0 transformation synergistically. Results further identify the codependences among the Industry 5.0 transition enablers and highlight their interactions and complementarities

Identifying industry 5.0 contributions to sustainable development: A strategy roadmap for delivering sustainability values

Scholars believe that the newly introduced Industry 5.0 has the potential to move beyond the profit-centered productivity of Industry 4.0 and to promote sustainable development goals such as human-centricity, socio-environmental sustainability, and resilience. However, little has been done to understand how this ill-defined phenomenon may deliver its indented sustainability values despite these speculative promises. To address this knowledge gap, the present study developed a strategy roadmap that explains the mechanism by which Industry 5.0 delivers its intended sustainable development functions. The study first developed and introduced the Industry 5.0 reference model that describes the technical and functional properties of this phenomenon. The study further conducted a content-centric synthesis of the literature and identified the sustainable development functions of Industry 5.0. Next, the interpretive structural modeling (ISM) technique was employed to identify the sequential relationships among the functions and construct the Industry 5.0-enabled model of sustainable development. The ISM involved collecting the opinions of 11 Industry 5.0 experts through expert panel meetings. Results revealed that Industry 5.0 delivers sustainable development values through 16 functions. Circular intelligent products, employee technical assistance, intelligent automation, open sustainable innovation, renewable integration, and supply chain adaptability are examples of the functions identified. These functions are highly interrelated and should be developed in a specific order so that the synergies and complementarities among them would maximize the sustainable development value gains. The roadmap to Industry 5.0-driven sustainability developed in this study is expected to provide a better understanding of ways Industry 5.0 can contribute to sustainable development, explaining how the development of its functions should be managed to maximize their synergies and contribution to the intended sustainability values. The study also highlights important avenues for future research, emphasizing the potential enablers of Industry 5.0 development, such as Government 5.0 or Corporate Governance 5.0

Applications of blockchain technology in sustainable manufacturing and supply chain management: A systematic review

Developing sustainable products and processes is essential for the survival of manufacturers in the current competitive market and the industry 4.0 era. The activities of manufacturers and their supply chain partners should be aligned with sustainable development goals. Manufacturers have faced many barriers and challenges in implementing sustainable practices along the entire supply chain due to globalisation, outsourcing, and offshoring. Blockchain technology has the potential to address the challenges of sustainability. This study aims to explain the applications of blockchain technology to sustainable manufacturing. We conducted a systematic literature review and explained the potential contributions of blockchain technology to the economic, environmental, and social performances of manufacturers and their supply chains. The findings of the study extend our understanding of the blockchain applications in sustainable manufacturing and sustainable supply chains. Furthermore, the study explains how blockchain can influence the sustainable performance of manufacturers by creating transparency, traceability, real-time information sharing, and security of the data capabilities

Behind the definition of Industry 5.0: A systematic review of technologies, principles, components, and values

This study addresses the emerging concept of Industry 5.0, which aims to tackle societal concerns associated with the ongoing digital industrial transformation. However, there is still a lack of consensus on the definition and scope of Industry 5.0, as well as limited understanding of its technological components, design principles, and intended values. To bridge these knowledge gaps, the study conducts a content-centric review of relevant literature and synthesizes evidence to develop an architectural design for Industry 5.0. The findings reveal that Industry 5.0 represents the future of industrial transformation, offering potential solutions to socio-economic and environmental issues that were inadequately addressed or exacerbated by Industry 4.0. The study provides managers, industrialists, and policymakers with a comprehensive overview of Industry 5.0, including its technological constituents, design principles, and smart components, emphasizing the importance of stakeholder involvement and integration for effective governance of digital industrial transformation within this framework